God made something good.
The big story––God's project––started in a garden. He desired all of us, His image-bearers, to flourish and co-create with Him. In the beginning there was peace, beauty, order, and abundant life. The soil was good. Life was good. We rarely hear this part of our story, but it doesn't make it less true. If you're getting half the story when you explore God, remind yourself that God created something good – you included.
We messed it up.
Most of us feel like we’ve won gold medals in screwing things up. You get it. All of humanity shares in brokenness. We are imperfect. The people we love are imperfect. Our systems are jacked, and our world is broken. And that's on us. We made the mess. We literally can't help ourselves.
Jesus makes it right.
God can clean up all our messes, and He does it through the person of Jesus. No one denies Jesus lived and died. That's just history. It's the empty tomb and the hundreds of witnesses that saw Him after death that makes us tilt our head. Because science can only prove something that is repeatable, we are dependent upon their testimony for this once-in-history moment. If Jesus rose from the dead, and we believe He did, He is exactly who He said He was, and He accomplished exactly what was predicted for thousands of years. He restored us. Jesus made it right.
One day God will make all things new.
This is not all there is. This life is not as good as it gets. A day is coming when Christ will return. He will complete His new creation with a new heaven and a new earth; a place with no tears, no pain, no suffering, no brokenness, no helplessness, and no faith or hope, just love. God will make all things new. In the meantime, God invites us to join Him in His work of restoring all things.
